{"id":25160,"date":"2025-05-06T09:33:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T13:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25160"},"modified":"2025-05-06T10:10:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:10:20","slug":"25160","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25160","title":{"rendered":"A Prayerful Exile"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Be Thou My Vision - Audrey Assad\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Optrm7lF16s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Benedict of Nursia (480\u2013587) is a central figure in the founding of Western monasticism. In the spring issue of ONEING, CAC affiliate faculty Carmen Acevedo Butcher describes how Benedict\u2019s prayerful life in the desert became a chosen and holy exile from a world in crisis:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A stirring in Benedict moved him to choose the uncertainty of self-exile and contemplation in a world of collective exile and traumatization\u2026. Benedict\u2019s monasteries were \u201cthe bomb shelters, time capsules, laboratories, and protected cultivators of the contemplative tradition in a world falling apart.\u201d [1] They preserved the wisdom of the desert&nbsp;<em>ammas&nbsp;<\/em>and&nbsp;<em>abbas&nbsp;<\/em>and were communities of healing in a time of chaos.\u2026 We can learn much from Benedict. During societal disorder and crushing need, how did he sustain both his own and communal peace and compassionate activity?&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Richard Rohr\u2019s allegorical adaptation of Archimedes\u2019 law of the lever, in&nbsp;<em>A Lever and a Place to Stand<\/em>, can be applied to and can deepen our appreciation of Benedict, who <strong>repeatedly chose to live in and from the \u201cfixed point\u201d of a contemplative stance.<\/strong> In this calm place of daily&nbsp;<em>ora&nbsp;<\/em>[prayer]\u2014Psalm-chanting and Scripture-steeping&nbsp;<em>lectio divina<\/em>\u2014Benedict stood \u201csteady, centered, poised, and rooted,\u201d gaining \u201ca slight distance from the world\u201d even as his heart or fulcrum of engagement was \u201cquite close to the world, \u2026 loving it, feeling its pains and its joys\u201d as his own. <strong>In prayer, Benedict experienced a \u201cdetachment from the \u2026 useless distractions, and the daily delusions of the false self<\/strong>\u201d that gave his fulcrum, set in the suffering of wrecked empire, the capacity to \u201cmove the world\u201d through various \u201clevers\u201d of compassionate action, or&nbsp;<em>labora&nbsp;<\/em>[work]. [2]&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>A communal rhythm of prayer focused on the Psalms permeated the lives of Benedict and his monastic brothers:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Focused daily on doing the ordinary, Benedict\u2019s life was a series of risings in the dark. Most Italians, even bakers, were sound asleep when lights fired up in his monasteries before 2 a.m. in winter, as Benedict\u2019s community woke and walked to chapel for Vigils. They sang Psalm 51:17: \u201c<em>Domine, labia mea aperies, et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam<\/em>\u201d \/ \u201cLord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.\u201d\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Benedict prioritized this chanting through the 150 Psalms each week as a community, as his communities and descendants, Cistercians and Trappist monks, do today. The Desert Elder Athanasius (c. 300\u2013373) described the daily hours spent singing Psalms as <strong>beneficial in teaching biblical history and prophecy, nurturing and maturing the emotions, and transforming how the chanter understands the Bible\u2019s words and even God:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>The person who hears the Psalms as they sing them is deeply moved and changed by their words. <strong>They become a mirror where you see your soul. Whatever causes us grief is healed when we sing Psalms, and whatever causes us stumbling will be discovered. It\u2019s like the Psalms were written by you yourself. They become your own songs.<\/strong> [3]&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<cite>====================<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>MAY 6, 2025<br>Universal Callings vs. Particular Callings<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"auto\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9\/images\/b66516eb-1f2d-8d90-0e02-d4223f78f6f7.png\">     There is a cliche among more fundamentalist Christians that is often employed to end discussion and shut down dissent: \u201c<strong>The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.\u201d<\/strong> I\u2019ve had this quip, or some version of it, tossed at me by a critic many times on social media. More than just a way to virtue signal their submission to the authority of Scripture, it\u2019s simultaneously used to accuse the person they disagree with of irredeemable heresy and to close the door on any further discussion. <br>       To be clear, the person who says, \u201cThe Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it,\u201d is <strong>really saying: \u201cI&nbsp;<em>believe<\/em>&nbsp;the Bible says it. That settles it.\u201d <\/strong>In other words, rather than a humble statement of their submission to the Bible, it\u2019s actually a prideful statement that elevates <strong>their own&nbsp;<em>interpretation<\/em>&nbsp;of the Bible<\/strong>. And their interpretation, like mine, is far from infallible. Of course, a fragile faith\u2014not to mention a fragile ego\u2014will never admit such fallibility to themselves, let alone anyone else.<strong>The more mature believer, however, accepts the difference between the authority of the Bible and the authority of&nbsp;<em>their interpretation<\/em>&nbsp;of the Bible.<\/strong> <br>       Why this distinction is so difficult for some Christians to grasp is a mystery to me. It\u2019s no more controversial than admitting that God is perfect, but I am not. Perhaps we struggle because it requires us to acknowledge that the process of reading, interpreting, and applying the Scriptures is always a human endeavor and therefore open to error and ambiguity. It diminishes some of the certainty that provides both a sense of safety and self-righteousness, which are immensely attractive to religious believers and the institutions seeking to attract them.<br>            The fallibility of our biblical interpretation becomes evident when we explore <strong>which words of Jesus we hold to be universally applicable, and which ones we dismiss as particular<\/strong>. For example, I have heard many sermons where Jesus\u2019 command to Simon, \u201cCome, follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men\u201d (Matthew 4:19), is broadly applied to all Christians. On the other hand, I\u2019ve yet to hear a single sermon where Jesus\u2019 command to the Rich Young Ruler to \u201cgo and sell your possessions and give to the poor\u2026and come, follow me\u201d (Matthew 19:21) is universally applied. Why do preachers apply Peter\u2019s missionary calling to everyone, but not the Rich Young Ruler\u2019s calling to poverty? Why is one calling seen as universal and the other seen as particular? <br>          Could it be that Peter\u2019s calling looks a lot like the preacher\u2019s own, and universalizing Peter\u2019s calling also validates the preacher\u2019s? Could it be that many pastors desire more of their people to participate in the mission of the church, and universalizing Peter\u2019s calling creates more urgency for this work? Could it be that Peter\u2019s decision to leave his fishing business for ministry reinforces the superiority of sacred vocations over secular ones, which is an assumption carried by many churches and church leaders? Could it be that our culture idolizes wealth and individual ownership, so we particularize Jesus\u2019 words to apply only to the Rich Young Ruler and not to us? Could it be that we create both biblical laws and loopholes based on our cultural and personal biases more than we\u2019d like to admit?&nbsp;<br>          Here\u2019s my point\u2014<strong>interpreting the Bible always requires us to make choices, and sometimes our choices align with the biblical author\u2019s intent and God\u2019s. Sometimes they don\u2019t.<\/strong> Sometimes we are aware of the choices we\u2019re making as we read the Bible; very often we are not. Instead, for many Christians, interpretive decisions are completely subconscious. We always read the Bible through the lenses of our culture, experience, biases, and personality, but few of us are actually aware of the glasses on our faces. Our interpretive decision-making happens automatically, invisibly. It functions like unseen software running in the background. <strong>We can\u2019t turn these background programs off, but we can slow down and be more aware of their presence and influence<\/strong>. We can pause from time to time and remove our glasses and try to read the Bible through another set of lenses.&nbsp;For example, the story of Jesus\u2019 calling Peter and the miraculous catch of fish, is often used to motivate more Christians to participate in evangelism and the mission of the church. For some, their evangelical cultural biases cause them to universalize Peter\u2019s vocation and assume that we are all called to be fishers of men. But if we are aware of this evangelical lens, we might be more careful and discover other ways of reading the story. <br>       <strong> Rather than universalizing Peter\u2019s response to Jesus\u2019&nbsp;<em>call<\/em>, we might universalize Peter\u2019s response to Jesus\u2019&nbsp;<em>miracle<\/em>. <\/strong>After the miraculous catch of fish, Peter humbled himself before Jesus, called him Lord, and confessed his own sinfulness. This posture of submission is what prepared Peter to hear and obey Jesus\u2019 call.<br>What if the<strong> best application of the story isn\u2019t that we\u2019re all called to be fishers of men, but that we\u2019re all called to humbly submit ourselves to Jesus and obey whatever particular calling he gives us<\/strong>? Maybe the story isn\u2019t primarily about becoming missionaries, but about <strong>becoming people who are more surrendered to Jesus\u2019 authority and much less certain about our own.<\/strong>&nbsp;<br><br>DAILY SCRIPTURE<br><a href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=f318a1835b&amp;e=f52fc38132\">LUKE 5:1-11<br>MATTHEW 19:16-24<\/a><br><br>WEEKLY PRAYER.   from Brother Roger of Taiz\u00e9 (1915 &#8211; 2005)<br>O Christ,<br>tirelessly you seek out those who are looking for you<br>and who think that you are far away;<br>teach us, at every moment,<br>to place our spirits in your hands.<br>While we are still looking for you,<br>already you have found us.<br>However poor our prayer,<br>you hear us far more than we can imagine or believe.<br>Amen.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Benedict of Nursia (480\u2013587) is a central figure in the founding of Western monasticism. In the spring issue of ONEING, CAC affiliate faculty Carmen Acevedo Butcher describes how Benedict\u2019s prayerful life in the desert became a chosen and holy exile from a world in crisis:&nbsp; A stirring in Benedict moved him to choose the uncertainty [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25160"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25160"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25165,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25160\/revisions\/25165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}